Delhi High Court
Sukhram vs Nct Of Delhi & Ors on 4 January, 2018
$~10
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Date of Judgment: 04.01.2018
+ W.P. (C) 1667/2017
SUKHRAM ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr.Arunabh Bakshi, Advocate.
versus
NCT OF DELHI & ORS ..... Respondents
Through: Mr.Amresh Mathur, Advocate
with Mr.Sumit Rajput, Advocate for R-1.
Mr.Rishabh Jetley, Advocate for Mr.Sanjoy
Ghose, ASC for State/GNCTD.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD GOEL
VINOD GOEL, J. (ORAL)
1. The petitioner has invoked the writ jurisdiction of this Court
under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a
writ in the nature of Mandamus or any other writ to set up a
proper mechanism for speedy and timely recovery of the Award
passed by the Commissioner under the Employee's
Compensation Act, 1923 and also for a direction to respondent
no.2/SDM, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi to recover the amount
awarded vide order dated 07.04.2016 by the Commissioner.
2. On 11.05.2011, the son of the petitioner namely Mr.Krishna
Kumar Saroj, who was employed with the respondent no. 4
M/s.Sameer Enterprises as a cleaner on the Oil Tanker, had died
during the course of the employment. On 07.04.2016, the
Commissioner Employee's Compensation/the Assistant Labour
Commissioner, Labour Department, Government of NCT of
Delhi, after hearing the parties awarded a compensation of
Rs.6,54,562/- with interest @ 12% per annum from 07.06.2011
till its realization against the M/s. Sameer Enterprises in favour
of the dependents of the deceased. M/s.Sameer Enterprises was
directed to deposit the awarded amount by pay order in favour
of Commissioner Employee's Compensation - VIII within a
period of 30 days for disbursement to the claimants.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner,
who is the father of the deceased, is a senior citizen and aged
about 80 years and he had approached the Assistant Labour
Commissioner/Commissioner Employee's Compensation,
Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar, New Delhi-110062 several times
but nothing could be materialized and SDM office is not
entertaining the petitioner to get the Award implemented. He
submits that some proper mechanism should be setup to get the
award issued under Employee's Compensation Act executed.
4. He submits that the concerned SDM, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi
may be directed to get the amount of Award recovered from
M/s Sameer Enterprises against whom the Award has been
passed by the Commissioner Employee's Compensation.
5. Here it would be profitable to refer Section 31 of the
Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, which reads as under: -
"31. Recovery. - The Commissioner may recover as
an arrear of land-revenue any amount payable by any
person under this Act, whether under an agreement for
the payment of compensation or otherwise, and the
Commissioner shall be deemed to be a public officer
within the meaning of section 5 of the Revenue
Recovery Act, 1890 (1 of 1890).
6. It is thus clear that under Section 31, it is the Commissioner
who can recover the awarded amount as an arrears of land
revenue and he shall be deemed to be a "public officer" within
the meaning of Section 5 of the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890 (1
of 1890). Therefore, the proper mechanism is already provided
by the statute.
7. At this stage, learned counsel for respondent no. 1 to 3 appears
and submits that a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- has been recovered
from the respondent no.4 by way of three Demand Drafts (i)
Rs.2,00,000/- by Demand Draft bearing No.083526 dated
01.11.2017, (ii) Rs.1,55,000/- vide Demand Draft bearing
No.84154 dated 21.12.2017 and (iii) Rs.1,45,000/- vide
Demand Draft No.084250 dated 30.12.2017. He has placed on
record the brief comments of Ms. Aashika Jain, (IAS), SDM
Punjabi Bagh, Delhi along with the photocopy of documents.
He further submits that the balance amount would be deposited
within two months by the respondent no. 4. Learned counsel
for the petitioner is informed of the recovery. It is expected that
recovered amount shall be immediately disbursed to the
claimant by the Commissioner and at the same time interest of
minor claimant shall be protected and taken care of. It is further
expected that balance amount would be soon recovered from
M/s Sameer Enterprises as per rules and disbursed to the
claimants.
8. The petition is disposed of accordingly.
(VINOD GOEL)
JUDGE
JANUARY 04, 2018
"shailendra"
